Ahead of the International Cybersecurity Congress (ICC) 2018, which will be held on 5–6 July at the World Trade Center in Moscow, the press conference with Stanislav Kuznetsov, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank, was held. At the event he presented the ‘New Challenges of the Digital World’ research on the modern cyber threats and countering them, by Sberbank and its subsidiary Bi.Zone.
According to the World Economic Forum, the total losses from cyber attacks in 2017 amounted to $1 trillion, and will reach $8 trillion in a few years, unless measures are taken. Moreover, according to the authors of the report, even those figures do not reflect the real situation, as the affected organizations often choose not to disclose information out of fear of losing their clients’ trust. Thus, in terms of damage to the global economy, cybercrime surpasses negative factors from climate change, forced migration, human-induced disasters and terrorism, and is second only to extreme weather phenomena and natural disasters.
As for Russia, according to Sberbank analysts, the losses from cybercrime in 2017 across all industries amounted approximately to 550–600 billion roubles. In 2018, the economy may lose over 1 trillion roubles. «In the first quarter of 2018, the number of attacks in Russia increased by 50%, and even slightly more. And the attacks became somewhat different: they are now complex, supply chain attacks, when criminals attack not the ultimate target directly, but embed vulnerabilities into supplier’s software. That allows them to gain access to the entire system of the organization under attack,» Stanislav Kuznetsov noted.
Nearly every second cyber attack happens in the financial sector. And if previously banks suffered the biggest losses from «skimming» (card data theft with a special reader, a skimmer), now more than 80% of attacks occur through social engineering.
Another disappointing trend is that modern cyber criminals have become significantly younger: 30% to 40% of crimes are committed by schoolchildren aged 14–16, Stanislav Kuznetsov cited the statistics. To solve this problem, the government needs to toughen penalties for digital fraud. At the same time, Sberbank believes that much has already been done to create a cybersecurity zone in Russia.
Stanislav Kuznetsov assured that the systems installed at Sberbank can reliably protect the entire infrastructure, and the bank thwarted all threats in 2018: ‘Our KPI is to ensure zero losses from hacker attacks of any level."
To solve the problem related to the shortage of staff, Sberbank opened the Cybersecurity Academy in December 2017. Several dozens of experts have already completed training there — not only Sberbank employees, but also other credit organizations and even law enforcement agencies personnel. «We have agreements with seven universities on training specialists in the field of cybersecurity. We conduct a lecture course and practical classes on this subject at the Moscow University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs named after Vladimir Kikot,» Stanislav Kuznetsov added.
This June, the Association of Banks of Russia also launched the Platform to exchange data on cyber threats, where market players can share timely information with each other. The platform provider is Bi.Zone. «The project will reduce the level of cybercrime,» Stanislav Kuznetsov said. «Scammers, having tried their methods on one organization, even if unsuccessfully, use them later on others. Understanding those methods is necessary for market participants to protect themselves.»
Cybercrime is a global threat, and countering it successfully requires international collaboration, Stanislav Kuznetsov emphasized.
The search for new levels of interaction between businesses, law enforcement agencies and governments is the main task for the International Cybersecurity Congress, which is organized by PJSC Sberbank with the support of the Roscongress Foundation, ANO Digital Economy and the Association of Banks of Russia.
The Congress will become the international and intersectoral platform, where the global dialogue of government representatives, world business leaders and key experts on the most acute and pressing issues of ensuring cybersecurity in the context of globalization and digitalization will take place.
